Don't Call It A Dynasty

The San Antonio Spurs played for the NBA Championship on Thursday, and looked for their 3rd championship in 4 years.

For the entire game, the Spurs were always 1 step ahead of the Cavaliers. With Manu, Parker and Duncan playing their best ball, the Spurs squezzed out a win against Cavaliers to win by a final score of 83-82.

The Spurs coach talked a few days ago about how the Spurs weren't a dynasty. They are now. ''I don't care where we fall in history,'' Parker said. ''I just feel blessed, honoured and privileged to play on a team like this.'' Tim Duncan also talked about his emotions after the game. 'It never gets old, it never gets old,'' Duncan said. ''Unbelievable. Such a great run, a great journey, a great bunch of guys.''

And while the Spurs now where the crown, King James has now learned that a championship won't come easily. ''I didn't want to turn around at all and look at it,'' James said. He walked off as the buzzer sounded.

Congratulations to the 2007 San Antonio Spurs!

Nowitzki Named MVP

Dirk Nowitzki now has something to take out of his disappointing season with the Mavericks, that ended with the biggest playoff upset to the Golden State Warriors. He has a MVP trophy.

Nowitzki ended the 2-year reign of friend Steve Nash and is the only European born player to win the award.

"It's still a little hard for me to be happy because of the way this season ended," Nowitzki said. "But this is an award for the regular season. That's how I've got to look at it and be proud."

The Mavericks had the 6th most amount of wins in NBA history and looked to be the clear-cut favorite to win the Championship. But they took an early exit when the 8th seed (The Golden State Warriors) eliminated them in 6 games.

Nowitzki now goes onto the very exclusive list of MVP not to win a playoff series. Other players who have done this are Moses Malone in 1981-82 , Malone again in '79, Wes Unseld in '68-69 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76 (didn't make the playoffs).

Nowitzki got 1,138 points and 83 1st place votes while Steve Nash had 44 1st place votes and 1,013 points. Other players were Kobe Bryant (521 points), Tim Duncan (286), LeBron James (183), Tracy McGrady (110) and Chris Bosh (43).

Steve Nash took time out of preparing for game 5 of the Suns series with the Spurs to talk with the media about Nowitzki.

"I'm excited for him," Nash said. "He's obviously not the happiest camper right now but he deserves it and I think he should really enjoy this and allow this to kind of heal an unfortunate first round. Because he did have a great year and worked hard for it."

One more key stat about Nowitzki, is that he had the largest point per game decline in the playoffs compared the regular season since '82:

Colangelo Named Executive of the Year

The 41-year old Bryan Colangelo was named the NBA's top executive in the 2006-07 season for turning the Raptors franchise around. During the off-season, he signed Anthony Parker and Jorge Garbajosa, traded for T.J Ford, Rasho Nesterovic and Kris Humphries, re-signed Chris Bosh and drafted Andrea Bargnani. This is the 2nd time he has received this award as he won it 2 years ago in Phoenix.

Colangelo received 29 of 45 votes for the Executive of the Year. Houston's Carroll Dawson finished second with nine votes while seven other executives received votes for the award, which is handed out by The Sporting News.

Colangelo also had the knowledge to keep Sam Mitchell, even after a very poor start. Mitchell later would become NBA Coach of the Year. It is yet to be known whether Colangelo will sign Mitchell for next season.

This is the 1st time in Raptors history that a member of their organization has won the NBA Executive of the Year Award

Out

The Toronto Raptors had one one the best seasons in franchise history. To keep it up, they would have to win in New Jersey.

Skip to the final seconds of the 4th quarter, where the Raps had a 1 point lead. But Richard Jefferson got the ball and scored to give New Jersey the lead. Then, in the final play of the game, Jose Calderon threw the ball away to Jefferson for the Nets to win the series.

Toronto will now have to get ready for next season where there will be some high expectations.

Game 5

In game 5 of the Nets - Raps series, Toronto had to win 3 straight to win the series.

The 1st game of those 3 games was in Toronto..

The Raps started the game great getting a 20 point advantage at the end of the 1st and having a 17 point lead at half-time. But the Nets then started a comeback. It started with a 3rd quarter in which they scored 5 more points than Toronto. Then, in the 4th, they got within 2 points of Toronto in the final seconds. In those final seconds, Bostjan Nachbar had an open 3. He missed to the left to give the Raps the win and prolonged their season 1 more game.

Toronto will now have to win the next game in New Jersey, and then game 7 in Toronto.

Raptors Netted (Part 2)

The Toronto Raptors were down 2-1 to the New Jesrey Nets going into game 4 in New Jersey.

The Raps didn't play like it was a playoff game as they were beaten to every rebound and every lose ball. This led to a 81-102 New Jersey win.

Toronto will now have to win 3 in a row to take the series. And 1 of those games will be in New Jersey where they have been awful all year. They've lost all 4 games in New Jersey and lost badly. But Toronto has been great at home all year and should be ready to go on Tuesday.

Raptors Netted

In game 3 of the Nets, Raptors series, the Nets looked to win on home-court.

The Raps didn't start out good letting the Nets scored 31 in the 1st compared to their 19. Through the rest of the game, Toronto couldn't get within 4 points of the Nets lead. This led to a 102-89 win by New Jersey.

The player of the game was Jason Kidd. Playing with a sore knee, he poured in a triple-double and a career high in playoff assists with 19. Vince Carter also got out of a slump scoring 37 in the game and leading the Nets to a win.

Toronto will try to regroup for Sunday's game against New Jersey.

A Fresh Start

The Toronto Raptors played their 1st playoff game in 5 years on Saturday. They lost. But yesterday, they had a chance to tie up the series at the ACC.

Before the game, head coach Sam Mitchell was presented the NBA Coach Of The Year Award for leading the Raptors to a +20 win differential from last year to this year. If you started watching the game at the end of the 1st quarter, than you would be surprised because it was only 14-12 for the Raps. But in the 2nd, the Nets took over as they got a 4 point lead into halftime. In the 3rd, the Nets bested Toronto again increasing their lead to 6 points. But the Raptors took over in the 4th. Led by Chris Bosh they got a 2 point lead into the final minute of the game. But with 40 seconds left, the Nets drained a 3 to grab the lead. And then T.J Ford grabbed the lead for the Raps again 2 free throws. Then, with 8 seconds left, the Nets top 3-point man had an open 3 and missed! That led to a 89-83 win for the Toronto Raptors.

The series is now tied up and is going to New Jersey for the 3rd game.

The Playoffs

The Toronto Raptors have had one of their best regular seasons in franchise history. Now they had to do it in the playoffs against VC and the Nets. With the sea of red watching on, the Raptors played their 1st playoff game in 5 years.

The Raptors were off all night. They never got any good offensive rhythum going and could not stop the nets on the fast-break. New Jersey also bettered the Raps by 24 points in the points in paint. Despite the Raptors having all of these things against them, they still had a chance to win the game. But a missed 3-pointer cost them as the Nets took game 1 96-91.

After the game, none of the Raptors were worried though. Most were encouraged that they had a chance to win the game even with all the faults they had.

The next game will go Tuesday at the ACC.